Do I Need Better Equipment?

No, that is a beautiful little kyusu and you seem to have the equipment for getting accurate water temperatures for your tea. I think you could retire buying equipment for the year. You will want to acquire more though, I promise you. For now just sit back and enjoy brewing delicious tea and perfecting your technique.

One thing I use other than quality water is a Zojurushi water warmer it makes perfect tea any time a day. I just replace the water every morning. It's so easy I actually started drinking more tea when I got it.

Obviously there's a lot more subtlety to water than just a TDS measurement, but for someone who is new to water differentiation, learning the taste difference between water with 20/200/2000 ppm TDS is important, no? Especially when you're using a Brita filter, like BW is: people have the tendency to "trust" Brita-filtered water, long after the filter has stopped working. That is to say, using a TDS meter helps you observe the changes in your Brita-filtered water over the lifespan of the filter. At $15, that's good tuition value.

gingkoseto wrote:The thermometer is a bad one. Although I don't like any kind of thermometer for tea, if I would choose one, I would choose a different one. The thermometer showed is one for baking goods. You've got to put the whole stick into water to make sense out of the water temperature, and if your cup or pot is not deep enough for its full length, then it won't work well

Everything else looks fine to me.

Actually ... only the maybe an inch or so needs to be in the water. Granted, I use a digital, but the analog ones work pretty much the same. Swishing it around a few times assures a more accurate reading.

In fact, when I check water temp, and the thermometer is deep in the water, then raise the thermometer up towards the top, the temp increases (as heat rises I guess) even if the thermometer is only in the water less than an inch.

Some thermometers give much faster reading than others ... it is annoyong waiting on slow equipment.

You're right, Chip. But, for under $10, we can't expect speed and accuracy that matches lab equipment which costs many times more.

The best tea brewers I've ever seen never use any equipment to measure anything. It's done by feel and having done it many, many times. For the more analytical drinkers, these toys can be very entertaining in their search for perfection.

The thermometer is the weak link there - it's not going to be too accurate. You really only need the thermometer "x" amount of times to get the hang of learning how much the water temperature drops each time you transfer it to each vessel. While I highly encourage the use of one in the beginning, the ultimate goal should be to not have to use a thermometer really.